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DreamWorks Studios Lines Up More Foreign Partners

Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider's company is hoping to increase its cash flow by aligning with independent distributors in select foreign markets.

Less than 24 hours after announcing a distribution deal with giant Entertainment One for the U.K. and Benelux, Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider's DreamWorks Studios has struck additional key output pacts with Constantin Film, Nordisk Film and Italia Film.

Constantin Film will distribute movies from DreamWorks in all media in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Nordisk in Scandinavia; and Italia in the Middle East.

David Garrett's new international sales and financing venture Mister Smith Entertainment brokered the deals on behalf of DreamWorks after meeting with foreign buyers at the Toronto Film Festival. Snider and DreamWorks president and COO Jeff Small were on hand in Toronto as well.

Constantin was a natural fit to distribute DreamWorks titles since it co-owns Mister Smith, formed earlier this year after Garrett left Summit International.

DreamWorks decided to align itself with independent distributors in certain territories as a way of providing steady cash flow. Disney, which has an overall deal with DreamWorks, will continue to distribute DreamWorks' films in the U.S., Latin America, Asia, Russia and Australia.

"On behalf of Steven and Stacey, we are so excited to be in business with international partners we consider the ‘best of breed’ and a perfect match for our films. Partnering with industry leaders at eOne, Constantin, Nordisk and Italia, we know our films will be handled with the utmost skill and creativity by their distribution teams. This new network of relationships encapsulates the studio's vision for capitalizing on the growing global marketplace," said Small.

Other output deals will be annouced in the coming weeks by Mister Smith and DreamWorks.

The first film to go out per the new deals is French-Canadian film Starbuck, starring Vince Vaughn. The DreamWorks comedy begins shooting in October for a 2013 release.

The current DreamWorks Studios is a partnership between Spielberg, Snider and The Reliance ADA Group.

The Reliance ADA Group is one of India’s largest conglomerates and in the past several years has entered the filmed entertainment space both as a production studio and as a strategic investor in companies such as IM Global and Lava Bear Films, with which eOne also has partnerships.